One of the hardcore punk albums held in the highest regard by so many actually started its life as a cassette-only release in the 1980’s and remained that way for nearly a decade before it would finally get a proper release on the preferred format of vinyl. Throughout its vinyl life, it has seen more than its share of variations so let’s get down to it shall we?
Originally this came out sometime around the end of the 1980’s or possibly the very early 1990’s on Dutch East India Records, or Dutch East Wax as the label states. Dutch East India was one of the biggest independent record distributors at the time and also had its share of in-house labels such as Homestead Records, Giant Records and later, Rockville Records.
The first press on Dutch East on yellow vinyl.
After being out of print for a number of years it was released on vinyl once more, this time on ROIR who decided after years of doing nothing but cassettes, to give up on that dead format and step up to the real man’s format of vinyl. This resulted in the record being pressed on a new color about every six months for the first couple years of its existence.
First it came on yellow vinyl, just like it used to on Dutch East only note the changed cover art and labels.
After this is came on red vinyl
blue vinyl
“translucent green” vinyl (why someone thought clear vinyl was green is a mystery to me but they were all this way and are in fact, not green!)
and white vinyl.
It also was released on black vinyl, which is the only flavor you can still buy new today. Some black vinyl copies have a sticker on the shrink wrap stating “limited edition black vinyl” which is total bullshit because that’s all they make ’em on these days!
So there you have it, every color of the Bad Brains – ROIR Sessions, damn near every color of the rainbow!
There was also an EP released by Alternative Tentacles, this release was if I remember correctly it was a 45rpm,12″ ep with 3 songs on one side, and one reggae track on the other. It had the same cover as the above ROIR releases. Obviously out of print.
theres also a vinyl pressing on We Bite recs from West Germany, which came out in the late 80’s under the title ‘Attitude – The Roir Sessions’. this press has a totally different cover than the one above. these recordings are just as good, if not better than their ‘Rock For Light’ LP.
yeah i ended up with the we bite recs version and i agre roir is and always will be the best bad brains record ever. millions time better than rock for light.
Thanks for this, I’ve been looking for all these guys colors for a while.
I have the original Dutch East pressing on clear red vinyl.